Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corporation v. Bernice M. Frazier

This is an action for wrongful death under the statutes of Arizona. Jurisdiction of the District Court is based upon diversity of citizenship.

On August 24, 1957 Robert C. Frazier was instantly killed by a rockslide at the site of the Glen Canyon Dam near Page, Arizona. He was then working at the bottom of the canyon on the westerly side of the Colorado River where his employer, Mountain States Construction Company, was engaged in driving a tunnel through which to divert the water of the river while the dam was being constructed.

Thereafter Bernice M. Frazier, his surviving widow, on behalf of herself and the decedent’s four minor children, commenced this action in the District Court for damages against Merritt-Chapman & Scott Corporation, the company building the dam. She charged in her complaint that the defendant, in the course of excavating near the rim of the canyon above the place where Frazier was working, had negligently caused the fatal slide. The jury rendered a verdict in favor of plaintiff, judgment was duly entered, and the defendant has appealed.

Defendant contends that the District Court lacked jurisdiction over the subject matter of this suit because before…